4 Facts About Raising Uneven Floors

When you can see stuff rolling off of your furniture, chances are you have uneven floors. There are a lot of things that can actually be off kilter if your floor should be uneven. These may seem like minor complaints, but there are other things that can happen that are far more annoying. If you have an uneven floor in your kitchen or bathroom, more than likely your cabinet doors are not going to close correctly or they may not close at all. Believe it or not, you can do this type of repair if you are use to DIY projects. If the project is not too big, you might be able to get it finished in just a few hours. Before you start however, make sure that you have someone helping you with this project.

Here are four pieces of information that you need to know on how to raise an uneven floor.

1. Tools
Tools that you will need a half ton floor jack that will be raising the floor. You will need some nylon rope or string that you will need to use to check the adjustments of the floor. You also need a line level that will be used to constantly check the levelness of the floor as you are working on it. You should have several 8 inch concrete blocks to help you support the floor. Depending upon how large the floor is, you should have 4 to 8 blocks to support the floor from under the house. You should have 2” x 6” wood pieces cut in 16 inch pieces. These are to go on the blocks as well as under the jack. Last, you need a shovel so that you can make sure that the ground under the house is level as well.

2. Check for High Points
The next thing to do is to make sure that you check for the highest point on the floor. This will be the marker of just how much the floor has to be raised in order to make the floor level.

3. Working Under the House
You will need to get under the house and begin the work that will level out your floor. You will need to use the jack to jack up the joist that is the closest one to the center of the floor. Make sure to use a concrete block on each side of the jack. Make sure to place one 2” x 6” block on top of the jack and then make sure that you have enough wood left for putting on the top of each concrete block. The actual floor height will be figured out once you actually raise the floor.

4. Raising the Floor itself
Now comes the important job of the helper you got. After you have placed all the blocks under the floor, you will begin raising the floor with the jack. Have your helper be inside the room and have them let you know when the floor begins to level out. Now you will strategically begin to place the blocks where they need to go permanently, wherever the floor needs to be level. Place the blocks near joists for support. How much you had to raise the floor up with the jack will determine if you only need one block or stack two blocks one on top of the other. Once you have placed the blocks, you can use the wood shims that you made to help secure the concrete blocks that you just placed to help keep the floor level.